Training: A Prequel to 'Cast From Paradise'
by bluerain1984
Summary: A woman watches as a very special group of children train. But only one is of particular interest to her. A Pre-In To Darkness one-shot. Rated for implied violence.


AN: All works, such as '_The Eugenics Wars Trilogy_', and anything to do with '_Star Tre_k' are not mine. They belong to the various peoples who wrote and own their rights.

* * *

She watched with pride as the children approached their trainer. Lining up, single file, with all of the discipline and stoic nature of soldiers. They were so well groomed already. But they were still young. Still too immature for their purpose. She did not hear the words that their drill-leader yelled to them, positioned as she was behind the safety glass, but she could see that all of the children took heed to the man's words.

All but one.

She turned to her colleague, and said, "I'll have to talk to him."

Her fellow geneticist turned, his dark brows knitting together with worry that was reflected in his brown eyes.

"Sarina, he is too unstable," the other scientist countered. "Do you not see it in his eyes?… That boy is not going to react well if you enter to reprimand him."

"And you know, very well, Doctor Nessim, that he won't listen to the instructors. I will talk to him. Turn on your radio." Sarina stepped over to the door that led in to the compound's training room, and she walked across the upper platform to the stairwell.

The instructor went silent before yelling, "At Ease! Resume training!" As the children began to slip out of their formation, Sarina called, "Not just yet, Sergeant. I need to speak with Khan."

The soldier nodded. "Yes, Doctor Kaur," then turned away and yelled out, even as the dark-haired boy approached. "SINGH!"

As the child met her, Sarina had to school her features. She had to be stern with him. She had read every file, and it wouldn't do for him to act out, as he had so often. She squared her shoulders, and turned her eyes down to look in to the pale-colored ones of the boy.

"I've heard that you acted out, aggressively, toward another one of the children, again, Khan."

The boy did not avert his gaze as he answered. "Govin would not listen to my instructions, and I was the team leader for the exercise. If my team does not obey my leading, how can we be successful in our missions?"

"But you did not have to break his arm."

"He healed," the boy said, his voice exceptionally cold.

Sarina sighed softly. "Khan, you were chosen as a leader because you are the best, not because you can bully the other children."

"It isn't bullying," he retorted. "It is discipline. It is the same as what the Sergeant gives to us every day, and he is inferior."

"You little shit," the Sergeant muttered before his hand went up.

Sarina's head snapped toward the soldier, and she yelled, "NO!" The man stilled. She turned her attention to Khan again. "You're not to fight with the other children of the program, do you understand, Khan? If you want to be worthy of that name, you will show your superiority in more than your intelligence and strength. You must also be calm. Patient. And know what battles to fight, and which to retreat from."

The boy's cold expression did not waver, but he answered, "Yes, Doctor Kaur."

Sarina smiled in approval. "Very good. Someday, Khan, you will be great. But there is much for you to learn." She glanced to the Sergeant, and said, "If he is any more trouble, Sergeant, send him straight to me." The scientist then made her way back to the observation room, where Dr. Nessim waited for her.

"You handled that quite well." She turned off the small radio-transmitter that rested in her coat's pocket as Dr. Nassim turned off his own. "I almost thought he would call you Mother."

"He and I discussed that, Ricardo." she told her old colleague. "It would be unfair to call me mother. I am the mother to all of these children."

"But he is the only one who is genetically linked to you," Ricardo said.

"And it is an honor to have supplied an embryo… He is the proof that our research is correct in every way. The proof that humanity can evolve to greater heights with the proper genes." Sarina looked back out through the glass, and immediately let her attention settle on young Khan. Watched him pick up the heaviest weight. Watched him throw it farther than all the others.

"It is an honor to be the mother of a new Superior Race."

* * *

AN: Technically this is a prequel, but I based it on a series of Gifs that have Asa Butterfield being 'fan-casted' as a young Khan, and I happen to agree, in regard to his resemblance to Cumberbatch. I think the idea works, and I've always wanted to make more mention of the woman who was, technically, his 'mother'.

For fans waiting on 'Project Eden' and the end of that, don't worry! It is coming! I will have it up before the new year, I promise.


End file.
